Another hot day and we are off to do some sightseeing this morning. Our destination is Fort Sumter and we drove to Patriot's Point to catch the tour boat. On the way we drive over and then sail past the beautiful Talmedge Bridge.
The fort was built after the war of 1812 and was originally three stories high with five foot thick brick walls. it was built to hold 135 guns and 650 men. At the start of the Civil War it had only 15 cannon mounted and ready. A Union army regiment moved into the fort after South Carolina seceded from the Union and five other states joined them to form the Confederacy. When the Union refused to abandon the fort the Confederates attacked and drove them out within two days. This was the beginning of the Civil War.
Today the fort has been restored from the rubble that was left after the Civil War. From 1876 to 1897 it served as a lighthouse station. During the Spanish-American War it was set up with 12-inch rifles and a battery building was built on the parade grounds. A small garrison manned the rifles during WWI and Sumter was reactivated during WWII when 90-mm antiaircraft guns were installed. After the war the fort was transferred to the National Park Service and in 1948 it became a national monument. Outside was a monument to the original Union troops and all the flags that have flown over the fort.
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